To examine organs, such as eyes, ears or skin, digital optical auxiliary instruments may be used as help. For instance, by using a portable camera unit suitable for opthalmoscopy, otoscopy and dermatoscopy, a digital image in electrical form may be produced from the pictured object. Since the camera unit may be connected by a cable to a computer, still picture(s) or video may be transferred to the computer for image processing, analysis and presentation.
Different institutions, such as hospitals and health centres, usually have a patient data system including a centralized server for storing and retrieving patient data. However, data produced by a portable camera unit cannot be directly stored in the server of the patient data system. Therefore, the storage in the server, if it is even attempted, requires several different steps and that data is input separately and manually. In addition, patient data from the patient data system is either not available at all or can only be seen poorly on the computer screen after complex operations or is printed on paper in connection with an examination carried out with the portable camera unit.